Tertullian was from Carthage, not Egypt so that was my error. That the Corinthians had adequate size coverings is implied but not expressly stated.buckeyematt2 wrote: I read quickly through Tertullian's "On Prayer" and I see where he addresses the veiling of virgins, but I didn't notice a reference to Egypt or to what you might mean by "more than a doily". Was there something I missed there, or somewhere else?
When he writes about the people living around him he writes,
“For some, with their turbans and woollen bands, do not veil their heads but bind them up... They were protected indeed in front, however they are bare where their head properly lies. Others are to a certain extent covered over the region of the brain with linen doilies of small dimensions which do not quite reach the ears. Let them know that the whole head constitutes the woman. Its limits and boundaries reach as far as the place where the robe begins. The region of the veil is coextensive with the space covered by the hair when unbound.”
He compares his experience with knowledge he seems to have about the Corinthians,
“We ought to look at the churches where the apostles taught and see what those churches do... Let’s go and look at the church in Corinth, whom Paul wrote to... Likewise the Corinthians themselves understood him in this manner... in fact, at this very day the Corinthians do veil their virgins. What the apostles taught, their disciples approved.”
Also,
Hypolitus writes: “Let all the women have their head covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering.”
So size and transparency were already being discussed in the early centuries of the church.
Which goes to show that people are the same no matter what century or culture we live in.